Fantasy Hockey Forecast: Shocking Breakouts and Unexpected Heroes of the 2025-26 NHL Season
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A healthy Kaprizov alone would go a long way towards changing their fortunes. He played in 34 of Minnesota’s first 35 games, and over that span, the Wild went 21-10-4 while generating an acceptable 2.94 goals per game. By contrast, when Kaprizov played in just three of 43 matches from Dec. 27-April 6, Minnesota went 21-19-3 and managed only 2.47 goals per game.
Of course, being that dependent on one player is a problem, but the Wild should be able to give him some significant help over the summer. Suter and Parise’s buyouts combined to cost the Wild $14.74 million in dead cap space in 2024-25. Next season, that will dip to just $1.67 million. Combine that with the projected increase in the cap, and the Wild should have about $20.6 million in additional cap space to play this summer, per PuckPedia. Minnesota will need to lock up RFA Marco Rossi, who had 24 goals and 60 points across 82 appearances in the 2024-25 regular season, but outside of that, the Wild don’t have any major players on expiring contracts, so they can afford to be aggressive on the trade and UFA markets.
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